Readability and Quality of Online Information on Osteoarthritis: An Objective Analysis With Historic Comparison.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common cause of disability in people older than 65 years. Readability of online OA information has never been assessed. A 2003 study found the quality of online OA information to be poor.

Objective

The aim of this study was to review the readability and quality of current online information regarding OA.

Methods

The term osteoarthritis was searched across the three most popular English language search engines. The first 25 pages from each search engine were analyzed. Duplicate pages, websites featuring paid advertisements, inaccessible pages (behind a pay wall, not available for geographical reasons), and nontext pages were excluded. Readability was measured using Flesch Reading Ease Score, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, and Gun

SUBMITTER: Murray KE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6754692 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature